21 Under 31 | Christina Weaver

Alabama oil painter

Christina Weaver, Three Brides, oil, 36 x 48.

Art Education: I studied for a year at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD. Then I decided to go with a more atelier-style approach to my painting education and transferred to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA, where I obtained a bachelor of fine arts in painting. In the fall, I enter the master’s program at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.Style: In spite of my traditional training and style, my approach to painting is abstract and intuitive. Even in choosing imagery, I don’t go too deep. If I see something and feel the urge, I paint it. Reality only functions as the initial challenge and as the visual food for a work. Things like shape, quality of mark, and color interaction are what really make a painting for me.Creative Spark: Stuff. Manmade objects. I am both amazed and amused by the materials and things that humans produce. I like to ponder the absurdity of items that have a largely decorative function or component—clothing, jewelry, furniture, fabrics, and architectural embellishment. For me, this stuff is just begging to be painted.Second-Choice Career: A chef. Cooking and painting are one and the same. Both are about color, quality, ingredients, texture, flavor, and knowing when it’s done.Best Advice Received: A painting critic once told me, “You be just as damned opinionated as they are.” That really stuck.
One Thing Most People Don’t Know About You: I inherited my grandfather’s incurable sweet tooth.Future Goals: Other than continuing to paint with the passion that I do now, I hope to somehow share the inspiration that great artists and mentors have brought to me, either through teaching or through my artwork itself.Price Range: $800 to $4,000.Representation:Artists’ House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; christinaweaverartist.com.

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